1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the formation of a moldable material, and, more specifically, to the molding and/or curing of an annular article.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tires traditionally include a tread and belt area extending between opposing sidewalls, which together with a tire wheel form an inflatable pressurization chamber to facilitate use of the tire. The sidewalls generally extend in a radial direction toward the central axis of the tire. To form the tire, a green tire is built at least partially from uncured materials. Subsequently, the green tire is placed within a tire mold for molding and curing. Such mold generally includes an outer mold portion that generally forms the exterior profile and surfaces of the tire. The outer mold portion may be formed of a plurality of members. Within the mold, a flexible bladder is generally used to force the green tire outwardly in a radial direction against the profile formed by the outer mold portion.
More recent tire developments include providing a non-inflating tire, the tire comprising a band of material that, in effect, forms a tread band without any sidewalls extending radially from such tread band. The use of traditional tire molding/curing methods to form this non-traditional tire has, however, provided less than optimum results. Accordingly, there is a need to provide new methods and apparatus for molding and/or curing a band or ring-like article.